I thought I’d make a start on catching up with the blogs again just in time for the wrap-up and month ahead posts tomorrow and on Monday. I don’t have a publication on Monday and I don’t have a book review ready. So tomorrow will be the October wrap-up post and Monday will be the November month ahead. How are we already looking at November?
I tried to get back into the swing of work yesterday, but a needy spaniel and a brand-new pup are making it difficult. I’m not complaining. But it’s been nearly 15 years since I last had a puppy in the house and the memories are coming back thick and fast.
First job of the day, over my dirty cuppa, with spaniel on one side leaning against me and pup on lap trying to eat my hair, was the social media catch-up. And then, while all I could do was read, I went onto Deadlines for Writers to have a look at the stories of at least the 3 people who commented so nicely on my submission for October. Even then I had to pause part-way through one of my responses because pup wanted out or food or water or something. Probably just plain attention.
So that was something. It wasn’t on my schedule, so no ticks. Instead I went in and changed what I should have been doing to what I ended up doing, just so I couldn’t beat myself up quite as much. Then I *did* get a tick!
Once I was up and dressed, hours into the morning, I went outside to feed the birds and play ball with spaniel. Spaniel wanted spaniel time and eventually pup started to join in and spaniel let him. I didn’t have time to do things like laundry or dishwasher as well. That’s another flylady getting the sack this week!
At my desk I caught up on yesterday’s blog post. It was short and sweet and to the point.
Then spaniel wanted more spaniel time. He went into the garden and jumped up onto the garden bench then waited for me and pup to join him. This is one of his favourite attention-grabs. And while we don’t want him to feel pushed out when he’s already confused, he also has to get used to not being the only dog. Top dog is okay, especially with a bossy puppy. Only dog, no.
They did both go to separate parts of the house. Spaniel went into the bedroom where there’s a dog blanket on the bed and he spent a lot of time there. Meanwhile spent time between his basket in the office, the chair in the office, and my lap. He was very good and did his business outside…most of the time. But he’s not even 11 weeks old yet, so there are going to be accidents. It would just be nice if he didn’t keep missing the training mats! (Although he did get a few on target too.)
Back at my desk I had to do some vet research. Pup is due his 2nd booster tomorrow so we had to find somewhere sharpish. We also have to get spaniel registered and have his notes sent over from his previous place.
After wasting more time than I had looking for independent or family owned businesses versus corporate chains and checking price lists that were at least posted online, I ended up going back to our previous vets. It’s a bit of a trek to get over there at rush hour. But they’re transparent, they’re family owned and run, they’re independent, and they did a wonderful job with Rufus.
I gave them a call and we have pup booked in for his booster and they’re going to have a quick, sneaky look at spaniel too. The poet will be coming with us. Other than for emergencies, I really don’t want to be doing it all by myself. My working week has already been disrupted, and I’m getting old and gnarly and my patience isn’t what it was…if indeed it ever was.
The poet got home from work after 5pm and I was able to hand over the baton for a couple of hours at least and try and get some catch-up work done. I started with the diary, putting in all the jobs I did yesterday that weren’t scheduled instead of the jobs that were scheduled but didn’t get done, and moving a few things along a bit. Then I started today’s blog post.
I had a closer look at some of the submission calendars and decided to tweak Snowbound for the 1 November submission deadline. I had to change the main character’s name throughout, but generally it was a quick and easy job. I added it the diary too, so I could give myself another tick.
This was a short story that started life as an assignment for one of my WMG Publishing workshops. Then I tweaked it and sent it off to 12 stories in 12 months. Now I was tweaking it again so I could send it off to a free contest. If successful, it will be worth a few pounds, $25-$50.
I’d left 4 calls for submission open in a browser:
- the 1 November 300-5,000-word story above (Snowbound)
- a 1,200-1,500-word story also due in on 1 November
- a 1,000-2,000-word dark fiction, crime or noir story due in between 1 and 4 November
- a 3,000-20,000-word story due in on 30 November
Plus, I also had the 2 existing stories outstanding:
- a 15,000-30,000-word novella for the great novella challenge
- a 1,200-word short story for the 12 stories in 12 months challenge
Aside from the 2 challenges, the priorities are the two due on 1 November, and I thought I had one that would fit the 1,200-1,500-worder as well, a Stevie Beck short story, The Horby Bells…but it too needed tweaking. And one of my novellas might fit the 30 November story, but it’s a Regency mystery romance. They want a happy-ever-after love story and that’s the only criteria. So The Baron’s Dilemma still might fit.
I moved Snowbound and The Horby Bells along in the short story master file, and I copied The Baron’s Dilemma across from the novella master file. The 12 stories story might become a chapter in novella #12. The story due by 4 November, if I can pull it off, will be a completely brand-new story. But I also have to be realistic in the time I have left, although I could write this one at the weekend.
I’m thinking of making a calls for submissions calendar to go with my Patreon content calendar, although I haven’t touched Patreon for the past 2 weeks either. But I didn’t have time to do that as well yesterday.
I revived novella #12, as I’d already started it in August, if you remember, and checked through chapter 1. Then I copied chapter 2 over to the short stories master file.
And then the poet shouted that tea was on the table. I didn’t get chance to post this before turning everything off, so I planned instead to post it first thing today…and, well, you know the rest…dogs…
